Centers

Within the Enneagram, the types can be allocated to 3 different 'centers', each containing 3 types. The body is made up of types 8, 9, and 1. The heart is made up of types 2, 3, and 4. The head is made up of types 5, 6, and 7. Each of us has connections and expressions of each of the centers, and therefore each type on the Enneagram. Because of the nature of personality, our core 'type' (located in whichever appropriate center) puts a lot of weight into what that individual center's needs are. The other two are prioritized differently, due to lack of awareness, connection, or wounding. This can create an uneven distribution of purpose and disarray to the intelligences of each center.

Knowing that all of these centers are relying on each other to develop simultaneously can help us create a dialogue closer to our alignment of them. When we isolate the centers and try to 'locate' them within dreams, we can begin to question how they operate and what type of archetypal images they contain that are very individually unique to us.

Body

The body center is a primal intelligence that the ego typically isn’t attuned to, aware of, or even awake to. This center correlates to the sexual instinct in the way that a person connects to the sense of ‘I’, and what that ‘I’ wishes to express. Knowing and caring for one’s body helps develop a relationship between the ego and the types of psychic material and wisdom that the body holds and carries. If a person doesn’t understand the connection to their body, a container for its capacities needs to be established as psychic material is uncovered.

The idea of a ‘container’ could be like the phrase ‘the body is a temple’. The energy that arises from the body needs to be interpreted like symbols and images in scriptures given to a person by ‘God’. This ‘God’ or Self communicates to the ego through the body, developing symptoms and dream images that ‘land’ in certain parts or areas of the body for the ego to pay attention to. Who is the one containing these capacities? Who is the one expressing, dancing, singing, playing? Understanding these connections can establish a kind of ‘subtle’ body. Like the instincts; there is both a biological and spiritual aspect of the centers. The spiritual, or ‘subtle’ body allows us to be sensitive to material that keeps us in connection with nature and purpose.

Images that show up in dreams can be ‘interpreted’ by the body in creative and interactive ways. Developing a ritualistic or spiritual practice with dreams can allow the body to participate in the unconscious material. This can be done alone, with others, or both. The space made for this must be honored and separate from the space of normal life, respecting the ‘container’ of the body and the experience.

Allowing a ‘space’ for the body and all of its subtle contents can allow the ego to become attuned to the body’s intelligence. A body wants, desires, moves, and expresses; and the ego tries to believe that it’s the only thing that has control over those qualities. Like the sexual instinct, we don’t often ‘choose’ what we’re attracted to or repelled by. The body ‘listens’ in ways the ego won’t always understand right away. Receiving that information can be the difficult part as the ego typically tries to corrupt that process.

Dreams can show the literal ‘containers’ the ego is trapping the body in; stores, old houses, glass, schools, etc. The complex that happens within these containers can be the Self showing the ego just how rigid it’s being with its body’s own intelligence. The literal bodies in a dream can also give insight into its condition; injuries, rot, disturbances, dismemberment, weight, etc. Are we not accepting our nature? Are we preventing ourselves from really moving somewhere? Are we needing to give more attention to certain pains? These symbols can be very nuanced depending on the person and their experiences.

We might be attuned to how we like or don’t like others to ‘hold’ us, but another layer to this object relational theory of the body center is what we’re even unconsciously asking others to ‘hold’ of us. The boundaries between us and others are blurred for each type, thus the particular type structure response (attachment, frustration, rejection) is typically involved in bumping up against its own shadows. This causes boundaries, or lack of ones, to be put up where it’s not actually called for, further separating us from parts of ourselves that are cut off, dissociated, or unaccepted.

I’m wondering if the mysterious location of ‘memory’ has something to do with the body - the body keeps the score. It remembers the sense impressions of things, and can store them to feel unresolved by the ego. Badness, rage, disharmony, rejection, and similar sensations respond to events that signal to the ego that ‘this is bad’, even if it isn’t. This ‘overstepping boundaries’ becomes an unconscious identification with the other person/place/object being the source of the ‘bad’ or sensitive subject matter that continues to be projected externally. Along with the work of anger and establishing a container, looking at instinctual relationships can help a person truly identify what or who it is they’re interacting with. Even ‘good’ sensations can put places, food, good friends, or partners as ‘Gods’ holding incredibly vulnerable and sensitive parts of us that are being unloved and outcast by the ego, only to be accepted and loved by something outside of ourselves.

Being patient with and holding this anger or intense, overbearing feeling that becomes provoked within us can allow us to access the memory of who we really are - what we’ve lost, what we’ve outcasted, what we’re asking another person or thing to hold for us. Reconnecting to our present felt-sense can begin to signal a sense of safety in situations that have a fuller opportunity to be associated with authentically.

9 - attachment, positive-outlook, withdrawn; holding is dissociated out into the world, boundaries are unclear and merged. The inner world co-opts the felt-sense. Asking others to generate ‘assertiveness/action’ in order to maintain harmony of autonomy. Participation Mystique; ‘I didn’t do anything’ even though their passivity still generates action.

8 - rejection, assertive, reactive; holding is cut off into the world, boundaries are clearly ‘me vs. you’. Felt-sense is hardened so that vulnerability or softness is outcasted. The inner world becomes a fortress, the only source of protection. Asking others to hold ‘aliveness/chaos’ in order to maintain control of autonomy. Participation Mystique; ‘it’s everyone out there that’s acting crazy’ even though they caused it.

1 - frustration, super-ego, competency; holding is crystalized and picked at within the outer world, boundaries feel violated and disturbed. Felt-sense feels the need to correct in order to return to a state of content. The inner world is the only source of accurate direction/guidance. Asking others to hold ‘uncertainty/ignorance’ in order to maintain order of autonomy. Participation Mystique; ‘you’re fucking up and uncertain’ even though their guidance isn’t necessary or correct.

Dream Incubation; What am I asking another to hold for me? (this ‘another’ could be a person, place, or thing; I’m sure our psyche & instinct stackings will help answer what that is. Or you could be specific with a person, the world, society, school, etc.)

Body Dream Symbols

The whole environment of a dream can reflect on the body center, being it the ‘body’/container of psychic images. Environment can show where the body is ‘moving’. There are feminine and masculine elements to the body and anger.

Fires; Transformation; purification; the lifegiving and generative power of the sun; renewal of life; impregnation; power; strength; energy; the unseen energy in existence; sexual power; defence; protection; visibility; destruction; fusion; passion; immolation; change or passage from one state to another; the medium for conveying messages or offerings heavenward. Fire manifested as flame symbolized spiritual power and forces, transcendence and illumination, and is a manifestation of divinity or of the soul, the pneuma, the breath of life; it is also inspiration and enlightenment. Fire and flame can both typify the heart. Both are ambivalent as being either divine or demonic, creative or destructive, they are the means of devouring all created things to return them to original unity. Both represent truth and knowledge as consumers of lies, ignorance, illusion and death and as scorchers of the impure. Dogma holds spiritual fire.

Forges/Metals; The sacred fire of the furnace; the power of transmutation of the flame; the generative, masculine, active, inflicting force in conjunction with the passive, receptive, enduring female crucible; the matrix from which metals are born. Lead; no insights, heavy, serious/fullness, pregnancy, grave, makes the diamond surfer, alchemical melancholy, limiting, carrying the past with you, slow down, ‘I can’t’. Salt; bitter, self-loathing, open wounds, out of the blood, sweat and tears, produced inside ones’ life, principle of fixation, preserves/keeps/memory, residue of what’s happened to you, raising dead bodies, purge, ‘it hurts’, one's own subjectivity becomes destructive. Sulfur; everything, things that ‘light up’ with fire, attractive principle, pan/the devil, combustibility, wants it now, will of nature, devour/act, consumer. Mercury; sudden insight stops compulsion, caught off-guard/tricked/shifted, desire for mercury overall.

Redness/Blood; the life principle; the soul; strength; rejuvenating force, hence blood sacrifice. The red, solar energy, Blood and wine are interchangeable symbols. Blood and water are associated as complementaries in Chinese symbolism as representing the yang and the yin principles. In Christian symbolism blood and water at the crucifixion are the life of the body and the life of the spirit. Stepping over blood confers fertility: in the Middle East brides stepped over the blood of a sacrificed sheep.

States of body (lameness/swiftness/drugged/dismembered/abused); things being injected into the body is like poison, we sometimes need our own poison (bad medicine), like the shadow, in order to individuate. Being drugged-up/dissociated is like ‘the living dead’/unconscious, commenting on pleasure/pain, escapism, body disconnection, numbing, self-forgetting, attempting to amputate, keeping the body center occupied, dissociating from needs, etc. Body states; height, weight, malleability, etc. can be symbolic of some kind of psychic dysphoria/compensatory.

Animals; body instincts, linked to parts of the brain responding to body impulses; mammalian, reptilian, etc. Specific animal traits mirror body’s desired traits; anger, withdrawn, rest, playfulness, etc.

Enraged characters; the shadows of our own anger.

Heart

The unconscious purpose of the Heart Center is to allow image and symbol to create a ‘resonance’, reconnecting the dreamer back to emotions that have been split off or disowned. This can bring up a lot of grief, realizing just how much the dreamer has betrayed their own heart. The psyche has a sneaky way that it’s using ‘image’ in this center; instead of our self-image, it’s creating an actual image to connect to through the visuals of our dreams. Having our ‘self’ actually placed within an image can generate a deep, emotional response from the dreamer. It creates a symbolic attitude that reconnects the dreamer to life itself, rather than attempting to be connected through inauthentic ‘images’ that are attached to the facade of identity. Being impacted and vulnerable to unconscious images and the emotions they generate connects us back to who we really ‘are’, rather than limiting ourselves to what our Type believes to be ‘I’.

This idea of ‘image’ can also be similar to the emotional response that comes from looking at a painting, being inspired by nature or our environment, or watching a movie. The eyes, or ‘gaze’, is focusing on something that speaks to the heart. When one closes their eyes, the resonance speaks for itself, and the dreamer now has the opportunity to feel the impact within.

The Heart Center can not be defined in a dream with something as simple as a specific image or symbol. The dissection that needs to occur to understand the Heart Center in dreams is through the emotional response of the Dream ego versus the emotional response of the Dreamer. There must be movement between the unconscious and conscious dynamic in order for the Heart Center to be fully recognized. Once the image presented by the unconscious is internalized by the dreamer, the Heart Center will experience the Shame that exists within the dreamer, and what they have split off from in their heart. We can understand this by looking at each type in their respective triads;

-Type Two; Rejection/Superego/Positive-

Type Two and Two-fixes, as the dream ego, will experience their need to impose their self-image on others or a situation. Rejection influence will give an imposing value, Superego will try to embody a belief or justification, and Positive influence will not recognize the opposite, or negativity, of their actions or beliefs. However the unconscious chooses to exaggerate this, the emotional reactions of the dream ego should be examined by the dreamer. Type Two’s may therefore have a theme of Love that isn’t being realized or recognized as their essence. Their impositions, justifications, and hopeful positivity are all defense mechanisms against accepting and feeling the Love that they have for their Soul, not for the ego or the self-image they’re fostering.

-Type Three; Attachment/Competency/Assertive-

Type Three and Three-fixes, as the dream ego, will experience the need to be competent, assertive, and available in their self-image. Attachment gives more of an ambivalent nature to how it relates or reacts in the Heart Center. Their self-image can be less defined and more open to being influenced or having other values/beliefs imposed onto them. The dream ego may therefore experience tests of competency and the assertion of their self-image in order for the unconscious to generate a Heart Center response to their inherent sense of Value that isn’t being realized or recognized as their essence. These emotional reactions are all defense mechanisms against the Value they have for their Soul, not for the ego or the self-image they’re fostering.

-Type Four; Frustration/Reactive/Withdrawn-

Type Four and Four-fixes, as the dream ego, will experience a frustrated and reactive observation to dream images that brush up against their self-image. Frustration feels like a negation of imagery in a dream; challenging, reacting to, or pushing something out of one's understanding, to further and more narrowly define their own self-image. The dream ego may therefore need to constantly question their disgust or distaste for the images being presented by the unconscious in order to feel more in touch with their own sense of Depth that isn’t being realized or recognized as their essence. These emotional reactions are all defense mechanisms against the Depth that their Soul can reach towards Wholeness, not for the ego or the self-image they’re trying to portray.

SHAME; internalized sense of disgust. Feeling unworthy of attention. As a baby you smile at your mom but she doesn't smile back; internalized experience of ‘I’m disgusting’. How to deal with the ‘mother’ possibly being repulsed by you. Who you are as a person is being devalued. Can’t get forgiveness for, not about morals. Image crafting in order to do something about the experience of shame. Symptoms and neuroses occur when the wound of shame is not felt.

2 rejection / super ego / positive-outlook - cuts off shame, I refuse to be disgusting. This is where pride fills in instead.

3 - attachment / competency / assertive - I will make myself something not shameful. I attach to what seems unable to shame.

4 - frustration / reactive / withdrawn - recognizes the shame and it’s something it tries to move away from. ‘I come from a place that is shameful, but through my specificity you won’t even see my shame’. Overfocused on the shame, trying to idealize or beautify.

Heart Dream Symbols

Blood; Similar to the body it symbolizes life force, passion, the ‘confessions’ spilling out, a call to express emotions, feelings, allowing for transformation. The heart pumps blood, regulating the circulation and renewal of this process.

The Sun/Lion; ‘center of life and the rayed sun and radiant or flaming heart share the same symbolism as centers of the macrocosm and microcosm, as the heavens and man and as transcendent intelligence.’ Awakening the lion of the heart, understanding the desert within us, allowing outrage from lack of beauty.

Religion/Temples/Churches/Priests; ‘unifying life principle’. Religion and belief lives in the heart. What are our values, beliefs, images that rule us and fill our hearts with purpose and direction? Priests are guides, mediators between God and man.

Flowers/Lotus; ‘the heart sacrifice represented the liberating of the life-blood, the seed of life, to germinate and flower.’ Lotus’ were known as the eye of the heart. Flowers show beauty, life/death cycle, potential, etc. We give flowers out of love, grief, celebration, memory. Giving/receiving selflessly. Seeds are like the heart of a plant.

Stones/Diamond/Glass/Reflections; made with pressure and heat, polished in the heart to reflect love of ‘God’. Reflection is used to slay Medusa (Death Mother) and gain love of the archetypal Great Mother. Also overlapping with the head center; the mind reflects.

Parts of the body close to the heart/associated with the heart; breasts symbolize love, motherhood, nourishment, humility, grief. Pain in heart, touching heart, wounded at heart, objects above the heart, tattoos or markings around heart, etc. can symbolize desires, sentiments, grief, feelings, and other similar associations to be contemplated or related to. The ‘center’ of something in a dream.

Symbols of aesthetic beauty; stained-glass windows, murals, art, paint/paintings, music, dancing, poetry, the design of something, nature, monuments, statues, etc.

Emotional tones of a dream; Noting the emotional tones of a dream and tracking how they may be reflecting something within daily life. Emotional tones can uncover unprocessed feelings that need care and attention.

Personifying the images; ‘work’ with the heart center in dreams can be to personify the images that appear. Creating an I/Thou relationship. Activating the inner, spiritual heart of the self and therefore the heart/soul in the world.

Head

To work with the Head Center in dreams, one must enter the realm of metaphor. The metaphors hidden in dream imagery, and within waking life itself, will create a dynamic of curiosity between the dream ego and the dreamer. The Head Center drives the ego into wanting to create an absolute orientation to reality to feel secure and grounded. This groundedness is an illusion, and the thought process an ego develops is not the only thing that fosters this kind of connection. When perceiving material through metaphor, the concretized orientation that comes through the ego can begin to break apart and become more fluid. The Head Center can be reflective of nature; where thoughts, stories, and narratives are able to move and change along with the ego’s development. An unconscious Head Center will continue the same narrative about the ego and its life, whether it’s an unhealthy or healthy story, to create the illusion that it has a grasp on reality and its own participation in it.

To use metaphor in the Head Center, an ego will typically be asking more questions than actually getting any answers. Understanding that reality is not a linear, solid thing, but rather a spiral of spontaneous happenings and discoveries, we can enter a more creative space in our minds. We also cannot possibly perceive the Whole of our existence, so allowing things to unfold small, seemingly insignificant pieces at a time is more supportive of our growth. The Head Center is able to peer into the parts of reality that already exist; the parts that we have no control over and we don’t actually create, but rather the information has always existed and we only just now discovered them. When we tap into this part of our Head Centers, we are co creating with the psyche and our Soul. We are giving the solid story we tell ourselves a break and allowing something else to comment on who we are and what we’re doing in life.

Since everything happening in a dream is an aspect of us, we must start to question; “where is this storyline happening in my life right now?” Following the arch of a dream like you would a poem or a myth can start to open the possibility of metaphor in the psyche. The storyline of a dream, and therefore reflecting waking life, can create one’s own personal mythology. This can be challenging or confusing to a waking ego, especially since a person’s type structure has a hard time allowing a change in perspective. The Head Center is where Fear is looming, and confronting our stories about ourselves can reveal why we Fear letting go of our narratives we’ve already established. We can understand this by looking at each type in their respective triads;

-Type Five; Rejection/Competency/Withdrawn-

Type Fives and Five-fixes, as the dream ego, will reject the storyline or perspectives being presented to them. They will typically latch onto one of their own subjectively competent details or aspects of the narrative and drill into it until it’s unrecognizable. Having a withdrawn influence might show up as needing to hide or remove themselves from the narrative happening around them. Although the dream ego responds in these ways, the storyline is still existing in their psyche. It’s the work of the dreamer to observe the story objectively, or how they connect to it emotionally, as the current mythology of their life. In doing so, Type Five’s might actually access their essence of Insight once they allow themselves to understand that this Fear is actually created by themselves. Allowing these metaphors to unfold and exist within the ego can help Type Five to access the Insight of their Soul, not continue the narrative their ego feels safe with.

-Type Six; Attachment/Superego/Reactive-

Type Six and Six-fixes, as the dream ego, will attach to the uncertainty they have of their own storyline. They can constantly be aware of the duality of the narrative and either respond with the superego/self-justification with their alleged ‘aligned’ narrative or become reactive to something that feels intrusive to their ego identification. Although the dream ego is battling between these two responses, the storyline shows that they actually include both. The work of the dreamer, therefore, is to observe the mythology reflecting in their life and trust that the inner process happens within them rather than outside of themselves. When facing this inner creation of Fear, this allows the Six to access their inner essence of Truth. These metaphors help the ego develop a relationship with the Truth of their Soul, and not continue the narratives that fuel the war-story within the ego.

-Type Seven; Frustration/Assertive/Positive-

Type Seven and Seven-fixes, as the dream ego, will typically be frustrated with most narratives that seem limiting or don’t provide a ‘better’ and satisfying connection to life. Therefore, Type Seven will assert their own narrative that fuels a positive, self-sufficient story of themselves and life, even if it’s perceived as negative or unsavory towards the outer world. Although the illusion created by Type Seven is guarded by the ego, the storyline throughout a dream can indicate the dramatization of it all. The work of the dreamer is to observe the mythology reflecting in their life and themselves, and soften to the idea that their narrative response could be putting themselves in a threatening or unrealistic position. When reckoning with this Fear, this allows the Seven to access their actual essence of Freedom. These metaphors help the ego be enlightened by the Freedom of their Soul, and not continue the narratives that fuel the false drive within the ego.

Head Dream Symbols

Head (from a symbols book); It denotes wisdom; mind; control; rule; the vital force. The head is the seat of both intelligence and folly and is the first object of both honour and dishonour; the crown of glory and wreath of victory are placed on the head, but so are the ashes of mourning and penitence, the fool’s cap and ‘coals of fire’. Images of heads on tombs or as memorials represent the life-force or genius of the person contained in the head, hence the use of ‘busts’. The heads of flowers contain the seeds of future life. The veil protects the inner life in the head, as covering the head with hats, caps, etc. and the head-covering of married women.

Two-headed gods and figures, such as Janus, symbolize the beginning and the end; past and future; yesterday and today; solar and lunar power; also Lunus-Luna; the descending and ascending power of the sun; the choice of the cross-roads; destiny; the beginning of any enterprise or journey, departure and return; the powers of opening and closing of doors, hence keys are an attribute of Janus and of guardians of doors. The two heads also represent judgment and discernment; cause and effect; seeing inwards and outwards. With male and female heads joined, or the king and queen, the androgyne is portrayed, unifying the opposites; this figure also symbolizes spiritual and temporal power.

The Physical Head/Hair/Senses/Accessories;

Anything having to do with the physical head in general - injuries; accessories on the head including headphones, crowns, hats; beheading. The hair can have many different attributes but one thing is that it comes from the head, the identity of the individual. All senses can be experienced through the head - eyes to perceive/discern; nose to smell which is linked to spirit/air; ears to hear vibrations through air, mouth to taste. Senses were linked to spirit or subtle body.

Surgical/Doctor/Swords/Weapons/Instrument/Medications;

The surgical precision, diagnostic attitudes, and medicating natures of the archetypal doctor could be symbolizing the analytical mind. Attempting to categorize, label, diagnose. Swords, weapons, instruments could be the swift movement of the mind to discern, decide fate/destiny, take control/leverage. Sword; tempering, double-edged, duality.

Video Games/Alternate Reality/Reality TV;

Playing or involved in some kind of alternate reality, the ‘game’ of life, compartmentalized head. Following some kind of rule, fate, objective, characterization. Trying to understand the limitations of reality, perceptions, loops, wormholes, a ‘way out’ or stuck within the bounds.

Maps/Crossroads/Directions/Decisions;

Similar to the previous one; looking for directions, a clear map, familiar territory, something to keep your footing or keep you grounded and focused. Labyrinth or maze conjures confusion, uncertainty. Fate relies on a choice to be made, the attention to that choice can indicate type; uncertainty, assertiveness, reactivity, withdrawn, assuredness, competency, etc. ‘Freedom’ of movement, travel, possibilities, outcomes, etc.

Air/Birds/electricity/lightning;

Spirit, spirituality. Freeform movement through the skies, wit, cleverness, unseen forces, exciting, Uranian, insight, being ‘struck’ with an insight.

Dialogue/language/words/writing/books;

The masculine/mind, thought, communication, Mercury, metaphor (carry), the power of the pen/words, creativity, voice coming through the throat/mouth, presence, protection. Understanding the wisdom of the story, knowledge, learning, expanding consciousness.

Play/imagination/humor;

The imagination of the child or through play/a play/theater suggests the use of metaphor, drama, storytelling, in a creative form with the whole body and heart participating. Humor allows a ‘release’, a dance with life, letting go of narratives. The trickster quality within play helps the ego be free of its confines and beliefs.

Fear;

Instinctual versus neurotic fear. Finding the fear in situations; what is the dream ego afraid of? What is the object striking fear? Is it seen, suggested, known, unknown?

Machines/dashboards/control systems/phones/computers;

Ways to communicate, control, monitor levels, keep us on the path, keep us connected. ‘Machine’ of the mind/ego, but also angels are ‘machines’ with one dedicated mission/fate, traveling in one direction, etc.